Marooned by Anna Markland

Author:Anna Markland
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2020-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

FORAGING

I ntent on finding shelter, Maximiliano hadn’t paid attention to anything except Heidi as they’d fought their way through jungle foliage the previous day. Retracing their steps to the clearing, he was reminded of his childhood, foraging for fruit on his parents’ estate in Cabo Tinto.

He plucked a bunch of quenepas, scored the shell of one with his teeth and chewed greedily into the flesh. “Try,” he said, offering her one. “Stringy, but sweet.”

He took back the fruit when she couldn’t break the shell and did it for her.

Her eyes widened in surprise when she began to chew. “Delicious,” she breathed. “I never tasted them before.”

He chuckled when she plucked another and had no trouble opening the shell.

“I must look terrible,” she said. “I feel like I’ve got sand everywhere.”

Her hair was a tangled mess, her face smudged, her lips sticky with quenepas juice. He wanted to lick her clean, all over, but he’d resolved to respect her. “You look like you spent the night in a cave with a pirate,” he teased.

Her laughter only intensified the urge to kiss her, but then she spotted a guava tree. “I used to buy those in the market,” she said.

Some of the fruit fell to the ground when he shook the tree. He cut one in two with his dagger. “Not ripe,” he said, “but better than nothing.”

They scooped up the rest of the guava, picked a few more quenepas and took the haul back to the clearing. As he’d predicted, the portmanteau and his sack were still there.

“At least we won’t starve,” she said.

It gladdened him to hear a note of optimism in her voice, but how long could they exist on fruit and coconut? “I’m going to climb as far up the mountain as I can,” he told her.

“You’re leaving me here?”

He regretted the note of panic in her voice. “You can’t scale mountains, even in those shoes, and I want to see how big the island is, and if there’s a better place to shelter. From up there I’ll perhaps see other islands and get my bearings.”

He handed over her own pistol. “I don’t think you’ll need this,” he said. “But you’ll feel better if I leave you with a weapon. The powder should be dry, and the bullet is still in the barrel.”

“It was my husband’s,” she admitted, staring at the brand on the handle.

He’d anticipated that, but her next words shook him to the core.

“He killed himself with it.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.